BEIJING -- On his trip to the United States, Premier Zhu Rongji stopped just short of the goal line in China's 13-year drive to join the World Trade Organization, but American businesses have vowed to help push it over.
The American Chamber of Commerce in China called Beijing's WTO market-opening offers "perhaps the most significant breakthrough in the ability of American companies to do business in China since the country opened its doors to foreign investment 20 years ago."It called on the U.S. Congress and the Clinton administration to clear hurdles to Beijing's long-coveted WTO membership. Next month it will underscore its position with its annual "Washington Doorknock" tour to lobby for a deal.
Zhu's barnstorming nine-day tour of Washington and five other U.S. cities that ended last week produced "seemingly irreversible momentum on WTO accession," Morgan Stanley Dean Witter chief economist Stephen Roach said in a statement.
The trade progress and the tone set during Zhu's trip have cheered China-based U.S. businesses.